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Weekly Gardening Thread – 2009 Vol.8 – July 03
FreeRepublic | 7-03-09 | Red_Devil 232

Posted on 07/03/2009 4:00:47 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232

Good morning to all of you gardeners. I hope every one of you have a safe and Happy 4th of July weekend! Since just about everyone grows tomatoes in their vegetable garden I thought I would share some information I stumbled across concerning when to pick your tomatoes.

Every tomato lover knows fresh, “vine-ripe” flavor is by far the best.

At the same time, many don’t know what “vine ripe” means. So, whether growing or buying tomatoes, they may be limiting their access to the top flavor of the season.

Tomatoes develop their optimum nutrition, color and flavor when they’re in the full red-ripe stage. But getting to that point doesn’t have to occur on the plant.

Tomatoes go through specific steps in developing “vine ripeness”:

* A gas called ethylene regulates the ripening process. Tomatoes start producing this gas internally when they reach full size and become pale green.

* When tomatoes turn about one-half green and one-half pink (called the breaker stage), a layer of cells forms across their stem, sealing them off from the main vine. At this stage, tomatoes can ripen on or off the vine with no loss of quality or flavor.

* Tomatoes don’t ripen at refrigerator temperatures. If harvested in the breaker stage, however, keeping them in a cool place (to a minimum 50 F) will slow down their ripening process. Keeping them warm (to a maximum 85 F) will rapidly bring full ripeness. And, once ripe, they can keep for several weeks in the refrigerator.

This kind of control allows you to spread out the good eating over a longer period. A breaker-stage harvest also allows you to protect tomatoes from the heat extremes of summer. Tomatoes can’t form their red pigments when temperatures are above 95 degrees. They’ll still ripen, but they’ll end up a yellowish-orange.

Leaving tomatoes to ripen on the vine also increases the odds for cracking and other types of damage. Plus, it puts an increasing weight load on the viney plant.


TOPICS: Agriculture; Food; Gardening; Hobbies
KEYWORDS: garden; gardening; weekly
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To: who knows what evil?
Sorry. Can't help you with info on a source for blossom
bags. One great place to try might be Tomato Growers
Supplies in Ft. Myers, FL. www.tomatogrowers.com .

Excellent company that deals in a wide variety of tomato,
peppers and eggplant seeds and equipment.

JJ61

161 posted on 07/07/2009 7:35:27 PM PDT by JerseyJohn61 (Better Late Than Never.......sometimes over lapping is worth the effort....)
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To: Red_Devil 232

For the heirloom Marion tomatoes, do you buy seeds or do you collect seeds from tomatoes to plant next year? I am researching the seed collection process and am planning on trying many heirloom varieties (if I can get them to grow here).


162 posted on 07/07/2009 10:10:08 PM PDT by MtnClimber (Bernard Madoff's ponzi scheme looks remarkably similar to the way Social Security works)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

It’s so hard to make people understand that technically, all plants are weeds.
A “weed” is just a plant that’s growing where you don’t want it.

Most “weeds” have properties we’ll never understand, and the more invasive they are, probably the better properties they have. We lost that knowledge when we got kicked out of the Garden of Eden. Aren’t we going to feel stupid when we get to Heaven and ask God Why and he tells us—well that one cures cancer and that one... LOL Like dandelions and cattails—some of the best all around plants, foodwise and medicinally, and we expend more effort to eradicate them than most would believe.

It’s even harder to make people understand that Roundup doesn’t care whether it’s a weed you want or a weed you don’t. In the Roundup book, all must die. :)


163 posted on 07/08/2009 5:37:29 AM PDT by gardengirl
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To: Red_Devil 232

No figs on yours yet?

Our first year cuttings we took in Dec/Jan are about 3-4 feet tall and loaded with figs. They ripen later, I guess b/c they are cuttings instead of est plants, but they’ll bear all summer, right up until frost. Water seems to be the key. We’re not selling any of our plants until Aug. I’ve sold them too many times and had the most people come back and tell me they died while ours in pots are still thriving. Not sure most people can accurately judge how much/well they water.


164 posted on 07/08/2009 5:43:02 AM PDT by gardengirl
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To: gardengirl
I do have a few figs forming on each tree. They are about the size of a pencil eraser.
165 posted on 07/08/2009 5:49:35 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: gardengirl

They DO love the selective grass killing herbicide, though. I think that is a modern miracle, myself.

Nothing weedier than a strawberry or asparagus patch, Eh?


166 posted on 07/08/2009 6:24:20 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (Save The Earth. It's The Only Planet With Chocolate.)
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To: Red_Devil 232

Yay!


167 posted on 07/08/2009 6:43:16 AM PDT by gardengirl
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Ah. Now, if they’d just develop one that kills nutgrass. :)

OTOH, it probably cures world hunger or something. LOL


168 posted on 07/08/2009 6:44:51 AM PDT by gardengirl
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To: MtnClimber

The Marion and Arkansas Traveler tomatoes I planted this year I bought in flats and transplanted them. I will be saving some of the seeds.


169 posted on 07/08/2009 6:59:57 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: Red_Devil 232
Petronski here, posting on cyborg's computer. I didn't know where to put this so I thought I'd share it with my gardening friends.



Gimme a break
Gimme a break
Bite me off a piece of that kit kat ma!

170 posted on 07/08/2009 8:11:40 AM PDT by Petronski (In Germany they came first for the Communists, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist...)
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To: MtnClimber
If you are going to save your own tomato seeds this site gives a step by step procedure.

Saving Heirloom Tomato Seeds

171 posted on 07/08/2009 8:30:01 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: reformedliberal

Before the first frost, I go out and pull off all the green tomatoes. Fry them up, and eat until I am sick. Do that every year!!


172 posted on 07/08/2009 8:38:31 AM PDT by KYGrandma
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To: Red_Devil 232

William, Thanks for the link!. I knew that there was a fermentation process to collect tomatoe seeds, but never saw it described. I also read another link on that site about the differences between self-pollinating plants and plants that will cross. I need to look at my winter squash plans to limit to one variety. I will probably pick butternut squash.


173 posted on 07/08/2009 8:54:36 AM PDT by MtnClimber (Bernard Madoff's ponzi scheme looks remarkably similar to the way Social Security works)
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To: MtnClimber
Butternut squash is scary!

174 posted on 07/08/2009 9:10:41 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: JerseyJohn61; Red_Devil 232; gardengirl; Diana in Wisconsin; Gabz
Here are a couple photos of the mystery fruit from today. The fruit is about an inch in diameter now and has a split in the side that wasn't there yesterday. :-(


175 posted on 07/08/2009 1:53:33 PM PDT by abner (I have no tagline, therefore no identity.)
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To: abner

That sure looks like a Brandywine. I have two in my garden and the leaves are completely different from the other tomatoes. (I just picked my first 3 tomatoes just now, and one pepper...HooHoo!)


176 posted on 07/08/2009 2:32:52 PM PDT by CH3CN
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To: CH3CN
Yes, it does. Here is a random one I found on the net..


177 posted on 07/08/2009 2:51:38 PM PDT by abner (I have no tagline, therefore no identity.)
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To: gardengirl

If it ever becomes useful as a bio-fuel you’ll be rich, rich, RICH! :)


178 posted on 07/08/2009 5:16:41 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (Save The Earth. It's The Only Planet With Chocolate.)
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To: Red_Devil 232
Photobucket

Steady supply of Okra coming in, it's really good roasted too

179 posted on 07/08/2009 5:25:35 PM PDT by MaxMax (America's population is 304-Million. Obama must punish America for the other 4.7 Billion)
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To: MaxMax
...looks alot like one of our spring tulips.

Photobucket

180 posted on 07/08/2009 5:28:18 PM PDT by gorush (History repeats itself because human nature is static)
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